Impressionable Age
by Kyogre
Summary: DISCONTINUED Tsunade took Naruto as her ward. After six years on the road, he returns to Konoha and, with Sasuke, Sakura and a scheming Hinata, tries to clean out the Senju clan archives – and all the Uchiha secrets within.
1. Chapter 1

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Naruto: Impressionable Age

Summary: Through guilt and a love of her art, Tsunade took Naruto as her ward. But this is a story of how he came back, still Naruto.

A/N: Because everyone needs a Tsunade-raises-Naruto story

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If possible, Tsunade preferred not to acknowledge having any relation to the brat, but everyone always knew. And they always asked.

When asked, Tsunade alternately used two reasons as to _why_ she took one Uzumaki Naruto as her ward. The first reason (which Sarutobi had tried on her) was that she was the last member of the Senju clan. The bijuu and jinchuriki were their domain and concern. As such, she was best equipped to deal with the Kyuubi brat.

The other reason (that Tsunade had come up with herself) was that he made a great specimen for her medical research.

The reason she was taking care of him (in the loosest sense of the phrase possible) was most certainly not because she happened to feel some form of affection for the brat. Of course not.

She was _not_ his mother. Or his grandmother. Or an aunt. Or a sister. Or a teacher.

She was most definitely _not_ his teacher.

If she had been his teacher, she would have been forced to kill herself in shame. Or maybe just kill him.

"How the _hell_ did you manage to get the lowest scores on the graduation test, you little brat?!" Tsunade demanded, waving a sheet of paper in front of Naruto's nose. "All that time Shizune spent tutoring you, hell, all the time _I_ spent teaching you-!"

"You never taught me anything!" Naruto protested, jumping up to stand on his chair – which was the only way he could look Tsunade in the eye. "You just gambled and got drunk and hit me and stuck needles in me…"

He trailed off, as he always did at the mention of _needles_. Tsunade twitched a little.

"That's not the point!" she roared. "The point is you spent six years together with the two greatest medic-nins in the Five Countries, and you! Still! Failed!"

"I didn't fail!" Naruto protested.

"You would have! You failed the ninjutsu portion! That's pretty much an automatic fail!" Tsunade pointed out angrily. Crossing her arms, she added, "But Sarutobi-sensei promised me you'd be a genin, and I'd be rid of you, so it just ended up getting factored as a zero in your overall score! Passing on a technicality…"

Still grumbling about "Lowest! Lowest! How could he?", Tsunade stalked out of the room to fume in another part of the Senju clan's ancestral home.

'It's nice to have so much space. Usually, it's just one tiny hotel room between us. Good thing Old Man Hokage wouldn't let her sell this place,' Naruto thought.

"Tch. Just because I can't do Bunshin," he complained. Shizune, who had been standing silently to one side, smiled and patted his shoulder.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun. Tsunade-sama understands why chakra control is so difficult for you, and why you didn't do so well with Bunshin no Jutsu." Ruffling his hair, she said, "She's also a bit upset that you couldn't substitute Mizu Bunshin and get a higher score."

'Something you should have been allowed,' Shizune thought unhappily. 'That instructor in charge of the test was so biased against Naruto-kun… He tried to argue against Naruto-kun being allowed to graduate without Bunshin no Jutsu, even though last year a boy who couldn't mold at all became genin. Tsunade-sama is right to be furious.'

But she wasn't going to mention that. Instead, Shizune added, "She's also upset that we hadn't thought to teach you a different kind, since Mizu Bunshin is what the Senju clan favors."

Naruto harrumphed. "So what if I can't do Mizu Bunshin out of thin air – I don't need any Bunshin anyway!"

Shizune smiled again. "Look at the bright side. You'll be placed on a team tomorrow, as a full shinobi of the Leaf."

Grinning a little, Naruto adjusted his hard-won hitai-ate. 'I've been looking forward to this for years,' he thought, tears coming to the eyes of his inner self. 'No more running from debtors in the middle of the night! No more getting beat up with just one finger! No more alcohol, no more gambling! And… no more weird "research"…'

He really did sniffle at _that_ thought. 'I'm finally free!'

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"Team Eight: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino," Iruka-sensei read out calmly.

"Sensei?" Sakura spoke up politely, raising her hand as a proper young lady should. Iruka nodded for her to continue, lowering his clipboard. "You didn't mention Team Seven."

Saying "you missed a number" would have been far too rude, but that was what happened. After finishing Team Six, Iruka-sensei had moved on right to Team Eight. Sakura blushed a little, feeling sorry for their chuunin instructor. It had to be embarrassing…

But Iruka just smiled at the girl. "Team Seven has a special situation. I might as well mention it now, since you've noticed. You and Sasuke-kun will need to stay after the team assignments are done, so that I can explain it to you."

Sakura nodded automatically, completely surprised at this answer. As Iruka-sensei moved on to announce the members of Team Nine, she glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye. He seemed almost interested…

'Sasuke-kun and I are on the same team!' Inner Sakura cheered. 'That's the power of true love! Maybe we'll on a team alone! Maybe that's the special circumstance!'

Sakura blushed and giggled at the thought.

As the rest of their classmates hurried out of the classroom to meet their new jounin teachers, Sakura and Sasuke moved down from their seats to meet Iruka-sensei.

The chuunin smiled reassuringly at them. "Just so you know, there aren't any problems or anything like that. The third member of your team will join you in just a bit to meet your instructor."

"Then, what's the matter, sensei?" Sakura blurted out, a little disappointed.

"Although your new teammate passed the graduation exam, the same as you, he wasn't trained at the Academy," Iruka explained. "His guardian travels a lot, so he has been tutored privately on the road. He just arrived in Konoha for the first time in years this week. So please be kind to him and welcome him home, alright?"

Sakura nodded, smiling. "Of course, sensei! We'll do our best!" she chirped, looking as cute as possible.

"Well, he was told where and when to meet, so he should be in classroom 214 in about ten minutes," Iruka-sensei told them.

Waving goodbye to her (former!) instructor, Sakura followed Sasuke into the hall and to the right room.

"There's no one here," she said as they stepped inside room 214. Realizing how silly she sounded, saying something so obvious, Sakura quickly added, "We're a little early though! I wonder if our teammate will be able to find this place okay? I mean, he's new to Konoha, so he wouldn't know where the Academy is, or where the rooms are…"

As Sasuke settled behind a desk to wait, completely ignoring her, Sakura trailed off. 'Don't give up!' her Inner self yelled. 'This is my big chance! We're all alone~'

"So, Sasuke-kun what do you think about our Team?" Sakura asked with renewed cheer. "I'm very excited to be on the same team as you! And having a teammate who was privately tutored is very interesting too, right?"

Sasuke glanced at her, but he didn't reply, making Sakura wilt a little again.

Twenty minutes later, the door slid open and a short blond boy stumbled in. "This is Academy room 214, right?" he panted.

'Took your sweet time, didn't you?' Inner Sakura thought. But Sakura herself only smiled cutely. "That's right! You must be the third member of Team Seven! I'm Haruno Sakura."

The boy straightened, catching his breath and grinned widely at her. "Uzumaki Naruto!" he declared boldly.

Sakura giggled and blushed. "Nice to meet you," she said demurely, like a proper lady.

Naruto studied her for a moment, making Sakura deepen her blush and Inner Sakura rage. "Say, Sakura-chan, wanna go on a date with me?" he asked without preamble, grinning toothily.

For a moment, Sakura simply stared at him. "D-date?" she stammered, blushing furiously and looking away. "Isn't that… a little sudden?" Surreptitiously, she glanced at Sasuke to see how he was taking this. Did he look jealous? Was he going to beat up their new teammate to show him how things were?

"Sure!" Naruto said brightly. "I really like you already! You're nice, pretty and flat."

Sakura punched him.

Crashing into the wall with bruising force didn't seem to injure Naruto much, since he was well enough to scramble away from her with very impressive speed.

"Flat?!" Sakura roared. "Die, you moron! I'll never go out with you!"

Keeping the length of the classroom between him and Sakura, Naruto shuddered. 'I was completely wrong!' he wailed in his mind. 'She's just like Tsunade-baa-chan, just flat!'

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By noon the next day, Naruto's situation had only worsened – now he was hungry, a bit roughed up, and tied to a stump.

'How did things turn out like this?' he wondered, his inner self sobbing pitifully. 'I thought being a genin and on a team would be the first step toward all my hopes and dreams… but instead…'

"Well," Kakashi-sensei declared brightly, "there's no need for any of you to go back to the Academy… Because you should just give up being shinobi."

As the three genin burst into complaints, Kakashi just shook his head. "You didn't even realize the point of this exercise – teamwork. Sakura – you went chasing after Sasuke despite not knowing where he was, when Naruto was right in front of you. Sasuke – you blatantly turned down Naruto's offer to work together. Naruto – after Sasuke turned you down, you just decided to cheat and go for the lunches instead…"

The look of utter _dislike_ Sakura and Naruto shared did nothing to improve Kakashi's mood and general assessment of their viability as a team. But still, he'd give them one last chance.

"You can try again, but it'll be harder this time," he said with a sigh. "Sakura and Sasuke, you two eat and get ready, but don't give Naruto any… since he's too smart for his own good."

'And he's the closest to actually getting it right,' Kakashi thought in mild annoyance. 'His taijutsu was good, as expected of that Tsunade's ward, even if he only fought me to draw out Sasuke. And he offered to team up too, though of course, Sasuke turned him down. Here's Sakura and Sasuke's chance to get it right this time…'

Though his stomach growled, Naruto had no desire to eat the two lunches that his "teammates" opened on either side of him. Actually, a growing feeling of doom was settling in his gut.

"Here," Sasuke finally declared, holding out his food. "Eat. And we'll try again."

"But Sasuke-kun-!" Sakura protested.

Her idol shook his head. "Kakashi's probably far off by now…" 'And I think I see where he's going with this,' Sasuke thought. 'Well, fine, I can play his game.'

All three started in surprise as Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of them, all sound and fury. "YOU…. Pass!" he declared happily. "Great job, Team Seven!"

"H-hey," Naruto asked, an odd, pained expression on his face, "could you untie me?"

Automatically, Sasuke cut the ropes… and stared in surprise as Naruto grabbed the proffered lunch and wolfed it down, choking a little.

Swallowing the last bit convulsively, he sniffled and moaned. "Hey, guys… I got something to tell you." The three stared at him, surprised at the beaten and apprehensive tone. "I… uh, didn't really plan on eating the lunches. I figured Kakashi-sensei would eat them in front of us, so I… kinda… poisoned the food."

The three genin spent the rest of the day puking.

'If there was anything I learned from Shizune-nee-chan, it was poisons,' Naruto thought, 'so, at least it'll wear off in a couple hours…' Of course, his new teammates' fury lasted much longer than that.

'Well,' Kakashi thought, 'it's a kind of bonding, I guess.'

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"I passed!" Naruto declared proudly as he stumbled back into the Senju family compound, his stomach still roiling a little.

His grin faltered a little at Tsunade's strange expression – a little sad, a little scared, a little angry. But then she sighed and smiled crookedly. "Great job, brat," she said, ruffling his hair. "I knew you could do it."

Naruto beamed, blushing faintly under her proud gaze.

'That's right. I won't give up or die. I'll become Hokage and make Konoha a place you can be happy, baa-chan.'

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Continue? Y/N

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	2. Chapter 2

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Naruto: Impressionable Age

Part: II

Summary: Due to a guilt-trip and selfish reasons, Tsunade took Naruto as her ward. But this is a story of how he came back, still Naruto, and how that worked out for Konoha and the Rookie nine plus three.

A/N: You guys are awesome. Review as much as first chapter and I'll maybe even make something happen in part III~

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"Team Seven, mission complete," Kakashi announced almost tonelessly as he and his genin lined up in front of the Hokage. Behind him, Sakura and Naruto dripped all over the nice polished floor, drawing the attention of the Third and his chuunin assistants.

"I see… Were there any problems?" Sarutobi inquired mildly, shifting his pipe.

Kakashi sighed. 'This whole team is one big problem,' he thought, but he couldn't say that. Sasuke was the last Uchiha. Naruto was not only Tsunade's ward but also a well-known sore point for the Third.

"There were… a few complications, Lord Hokage," Kakashi replied instead.

"This idiot used a water jutsu on me!" Sakura complained, pointing an accusing finger at Naruto.

The blond cowered momentarily before shoving aside his fear with bull-headed indignation. "I was just trying to help! You kept going on about how hot you were, and how you smelled, and how you wanted a shower! And besides, you pushed me in the river too!"

"Shut up! Idiot!" Sakura roared, making Naruto cower and hide on the other side of Sasuke, who only crossed his arms and did his best impersonation of a statue.

'Naruto… is hopelessly socially retarded,' Kakashi thought. 'Even when he means well, he always does the stupidest things. I guess it's a side effect of getting raised on the road…'

"Regardless, the mission is complete," he cut in.

Sarutobi nodded slowly. "Well, it _is_ getting rather hot, so why don't you three take the rest of the day off. Come by tomorrow in the morning for another D-rank."

Flipping her long hair over her shoulder, Sakura stormed off – so angry she didn't even bother trying to ask Sasuke for a date. Of course, her absolutely abysmal appearance (wet, still smelly and with junk in her hair from their mission) made her doubt any possibility of success.

"Geez," Naruto drew out, flopping to the floor. "She's nuts, just like Tsunade-baa-chan. Why couldn't she be nice like Shizune-nee-chan?"

Looking at the boy, Sarutobi smiled faintly. "Not getting along so well, Naruto? I hope you're not thinking of giving up."

"No way!" Naruto declared easily. "I'll become Hokage!"

Shaking his head a little, Sasuke turned around wordlessly and headed outside. Hot or not, he planned to train the rest of the day. However, just as he left the tower, Naruto's voice hailed him and the Uchiha paused.

His teammate caught up quickly and smiled a little nervously. "Hey, Sasuke, I… uh, I've been meaning to ask you for a while, but Sakura was always around and talking to you, and then you'd walk off, so I never got a chance…"

"Just get to the point," Sasuke said quietly, doing his level best not to snap. 'Remember, this is Kakashi's test,' he thought to himself. 'Just play along for now, until he decides you're good enough to teach for real.'

"Right," Naruto laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. Taking a deep breath, he tried again. "Sasuke, could you help me organize the Senju scroll library?"

'There, that's simple and to the point, just like Shizune-nee-chan told me,' Naruto thought, remembering the kind medic-nin's advice on asking favors.

For a moment, Sasuke was honestly speechless. "The Senju scroll library?" he repeated.

"Um, yeah." Naruto stared at him in surprise for a moment before realizing that maybe he'd been a little _too_ to the point. "Well, you know how Tsunade-baa-chan took me in as her ward." That had been a shock to his genin teammates when it came out. At first, they hadn't realized his Tsunade-baa-chan was the legendary Tsunade of the Sannin. "So while I'm in Konoha, she's letting me stay at the Senju clan compound. There isn't anyone living there anymore anyway…"

'I can see how that would work,' Sasuke thought, 'but he doesn't get the problem.' Shaking his head, he interrupted, "What does that have to do with the library?"

"Eh, well, Tsunade-baa-chan also told me that I could try studying from the scrolls in the library – to learn some cool new jutsus, you know," Naruto explained, brightening a little. "But it's a total mess and I can't make heads or tails of it."

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "Naruto, is it really alright for me to help you?" he asked.

"Sure. Why not?"

'Because the Uchiha and the Senju clans have been rivals since the founding,' Sasuke thought almost sarcastically. 'Well, no point in turning down a golden opportunity.'

"I'll help," he said quietly.

Naruto beamed. "That's great!"

The Senju compound had nothing on the Uchiha district in size, being smaller than even the Hyuuga mansions. But it had a pleasant, airy atmosphere with several large gardens around the perimeter and in the center, with old trees and fountains. Most of the buildings were wood, Sasuke noted, but they didn't show any sign of decay, despite the place standing empty for well over a decade.

Naruto hadn't been joking – the library was a fairly large room, each wall covered in shelves. The clutter made it seem much smaller though, with crates of more scrolls set in a maze across the floor, along with other mysterious objects draped in white (at one point, anyway) sheets. Not to mention that everything was covered in a thick layer of dust.

Sneezing, Naruto looked up at the dirty skylights that were the only source of illumination. "I should probably clean that off first, otherwise we won't be able to even read anything," he muttered, wrinkling his nose. Turning back to Sasuke, he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I shoulda thought of that before. You wanna get started while I deal with that?"

'He's going to leave me here alone? A competitor surrounded by priceless knowledge?' Sasuke wondered.

"Sure," he said tonelessly. "Do you have any idea how this is supposed to be organized?"

"Not a clue," Naruto beamed before scampering out of the room.

Sighing a little, Sasuke opened the door as wide as possible headed for what looked like a desk. Overhead, he could hear Naruto's pattering footsteps across the roof.

As the library room slowly brightened, Sasuke found he had absolutely no idea how to do this. The Uchiha clan had several "libraries" with scrolls, but they were well used and almost obsessively organized, unlike this fine mess. Picking up a few scrolls at random, he found everything from birth certificates to what seemed to be a love letter from… the Sandaime Mizukage?

Shaking his head, Sasuke quickly dropped the scroll back where he found it.

When Naruto bounded back in, now even dirtier and wetter than before, Sasuke just picked up one of the crates scattered across the floor of the room and nodded to another. Naruto quickly followed his example and the two boys took their loot out into an empty living room.

"I think a lot of the scrolls were dumped there randomly, so we should just start sorting these first," Sasuke said, with self-assurance he really didn't feel. "Just try to figure out what it's about and put it with others like it."

Naruto shrugged and picked up a scroll. After squinting at it for a moment, he grimaced. "It's all about barrels of rice and months and places."

"So, administrative," Sasuke decided. "That'll be the first pile."

Most of Naruto's crate turned out to be administrative – lists of tributes and taxes, records about promotions and transfers of clan shinobi, family registries, property deeds, things like that.

Sasuke's crate was a more mixed bag, with a few water jutsu interspersed between records of clan alliances, which seemed to have changed every three weeks or so.

By the time it started to get dark, they had sorted through five crates, but they hadn't found anything immediately useful. "I'm okay with water, but not too good, and I can't make it gather like the Second could. I'm totally useless with earth too," Naruto explained, setting aside one of the rare jutsu scrolls.

When it started to get dark, Naruto brought himself and Sasuke each a cup of instant ramen. It took Sasuke a moment to notice the proffered food and he took it slowly, barely looking up from the scroll he was reading.

"What's up? Is it a jutsu?" Naruto asked, peering over his shoulder.

Sasuke frowned. "No, just… It's about my clan," he replied distractedly. His clan name had been what caught his attention, written in the old traditional style.

"Eh? Really?" Naruto wondered, frowning at all the old-fashioned characters on the scroll. Scooting away, he settled to slurp at his ramen. "Sasuke, you're from a clan?"

_That_ was enough to make Sasuke tear his eyes away from the document. 'Is he joking?' he wondered, staring at his teammate.

Naruto grimaced sulkily at the look he got. "Come on! Give me a break! I haven't been in Konoha since I was six. And Baa-chan never talks about this place if she can help it. It's not like I know what clans there are in Konoha!"

"I'm from the Uchiha clan," Sasuke said slowly, the words feeling odd on his tongue. When was the last time he'd had to say that? Probably never. Just the symbol on his shirt was enough for everyone except Naruto.

Naruto swallowed. "Really? That's cool. So, what's your clan like?"

"Dead," Sasuke bit out. Naruto stared, a long tail of noodles dangling from his mouth. "My older brother killed my entire clan four years ago."

For several long moments, silence hung heavily between them. "Oh," Naruto said finally. "So, he's the guy you want to kill…" More silence, as Naruto regarded his ramen thoughtfully. Suddenly, he asked, "Is he strong? Your brother?"

"A genius," Sasuke admitted. "He was already an Anbu at my age."

"Looks like we've got a long way to go. We'll have to train even harder," Naruto decided.

"We?"

"Of course!" Naruto nodded, his expression serious and determined. "I'm gonna be Hokage and you're gonna be a Hunter-nin and restore your clan! We're gonna have to train super-hard!"

'A Hunter-nin?' Sasuke thought. 'That does make sense, but…'

"Tomorrow, let's ask Kakashi-sensei for a C-rank," Naruto suggested, finishing off his ramen. "If you say we're ready, Sakura'll say so too. And if we all insist, he'll have to agree!"

Sasuke nodded, absently taking a bite of ramen and grimacing at the taste. "Naruto," he said thoughtfully, "I'm going to take this scroll, okay?"

"Sure," his teammate shrugged. "If you want." He still didn't understand the whole clan rivalry and secrecy issue.

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As promised, the subject came up the next morning as Team Seven requested their next mission.

"C-rank?" Kakashi repeated, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. 'At least they all agree on something… for once,' he thought. "Fine. We'll try it out."

Behind the mission table, Sarutobi smiled faintly. "Alright then, I have just the mission for you – an escort to the Land of Waves."

'It'll get you out of the village for a while,' he thought, 'so I can figure out a good way to convince Naruto not to dig around the Senju clan archives any more…'

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Let's face it, Sasuke and Senju clan secret documents just aren't a good combo. Who knows, maybe one of Tsunade's relatives left a note: "PS: We're so oppressing the Uchiha clan. Ha-ha, take that Madara. xp :D" Yup.

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	3. Chapter 3

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Naruto: Impressionable Age

Part: III

Summary: Tsunade took Naruto as her ward. Now back in Konoha, Naruto has dragged his team along with him to clean out the Senju clan archives - not realizing what a hornets' nest he's getting into.

A/N: Skipping right over Land of Waves. Just assume it went about the same as canon.

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"Administrative," Naruto said shortly, holding out a scroll to Sakura. The girl took it without looking up from her own scroll and put it into the crate next to her.

'Summer in Konoha sure is hot,' Naruto thought irritably. Letting out a heavy breath, he climbed to his feet and glanced at his teammates. To stave off the heat, Sakura had switched to a lighter dress and shorts; she had even taken to tying her hair up in a messy knot to keep it off her neck. For his part, Sasuke had refused to change his wardrobe, which just led to him getting a very nice sunburn not just on his face and arms, but even under his dark shirt.

It was cooler in the Senju compound, but the heat was still uncomfortable.

"I'm gonna get a drink. What do you guys want?" Naruto asked. After he had written to Shizune about inviting Sasuke over, the medic had sent back a detailed list about how to treat guests – which included offering snacks and beverages.

"Anything cool would be great," Sakura muttered distractedly, squinting a little at the scroll in her hands. Sasuke grunted in agreement.

As Naruto wandered off to the kitchen, Sakura finally deciphered the old-fashioned symbols and moved the tricky scroll into the correct crate. After returning from Wave Country, they had quickly gotten past the point where they could just pile the scrolls in stacks and had instead started reusing the crates, making sure to label them properly.

Well, Sakura had made sure to label them properly. Naruto and Sasuke had actually gotten the crates confused a couple times before she stepped in, basically forcing herself into the boys' company. Her mother had taught her to be polite and courteous in another person's home, but it was _Naruto _and it was _Sasuke_, and they were doing something without her…

'Well, I wanted to spend time with Sasuke-kun, but he's always so focused on the documents,' Sakura thought with a sigh, glancing at the Uchiha as she reached for another scroll. 'It's not so bad though. Some of these really are very interesting…'

She had always been a bookworm at heart.

Of course, Naruto was terribly disappointed. They had found several of Suiton and Doton techniques, but neither appealed to him. They had found entire treaties about the theory behind Mokuton, but that was just useless. They had also found some instructions for the Senju clan's traditional taijutsu, but after a quick scan, Naruto declared that he already knew most of it from Tsunade.

Finally fed up with his whining, Sakura had told him to just suck it up and study the Suiton, elementally inclined to it or not. (There was absolutely no way Naruto would figure out Doton though, as a few failed attempts showed.)

Naruto wandered back into the living room, stepping over several scrolls spread across the floor and settling down again. Despite occasional bouts of clumsiness, Naruto was well-trained in taijutsu and he skillfully balanced three glasses of water, two of which he passed to his teammates.

For a moment, Sakura eyed her glass, trying to remember if she'd done anything to annoy Naruto recently. His team had quickly learned about his preferred method of retaliation – mild poisons. 'Figures – just like a guy. He spends years with two of the greatest medics in the shinobi nations and all he learns is how to poison people,' Sakura thought with only mild irritation.

Shaking away her paranoia, she took a slow sip. If Naruto was really angry, he wouldn't bother restricting himself to poisons that needed to be ingested. He also knew quite a few that worked through the skin.

Sasuke drank his water without even bothering to check what it was. (Of course, he also seemed to have adopted the philosophy that Naruto's retaliation would help him build up a resistance to more severe poisons – what didn't kill him would make him stronger, and all that.)

However, Sakura's paranoia made a sudden comeback as Naruto simply stared thoughtfully at his own glass, without drinking. Condensation gathered on the outside, and ice cubes clinked, shifting as they melted a little.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, feeling a little weirded out.

Without looking away, Naruto said, "I don't get it. How did Haku make ice? I don't think you can do that with just Suiton."

'Oh, that boy with Zabuza,' Sakura realized.

"It was probably his bloodline," Sasuke said quietly, looking up from his scroll. "The First could use earth and water to make Mokuton, so that guy probably combined water with something else to make ice."

"Yeah, I guess so," Naruto muttered, his expression turning sad and serious. He had taken the entire mission rather hard, worse than either Sasuke or Sakura. "He said he had a blood-limit, like Sasuke…"

Feeling uncomfortable with the increasingly gloomy atmosphere, Sakura tried to change the subject. "Speaking of blood-limits, it's really great that Sasuke-kun activated his Sharingan, right?"

"Hn," Sasuke drew out, but he seemed to preen just a little.

Shaking himself out of his gloomy thoughts, Naruto grinned. "That _is_ pretty cool," he agreed. "So what does it do?"

"The Sharingan allows the user to memorize any technique that it witnesses, whether ninjutsu, genjutsu or taijutsu," Sasuke explained, repeating easily what he had been taught. "The Sharingan also grants the user clarity of perception, allowing them to track objects and predict their subsequent movements, including the movements of opponents. The Sharingan also allows the user to see through genjutsu and to observe the movement and flow of chakra, though not to the same extent as the Byakugan."

Sakura was nodding along with his explanation, mentally tallying up the points with what Kakashi-sensei had done in Wave Country, but Naruto looked more confused than anything.

"I see," she said thoughtfully. "So you can learn techniques just by seeing an enemy use them, and you can predict their movements, right, Sasuke-kun? But I supposed it doesn't work with blood-limits and summons – techniques that require a special state from the user to be successful."

Sasuke nodded, a little surprised at such an in-depth analysis from her.

Thinking for a moment, Sakura added, "It has other limits too, right? Even if you can copy a movement with your mind, you might not be able to replicate it. For example, you might not have enough chakra for a ninjutsu, or you might not be fast enough to counter taijutsu, even when you predict it."

Crossing his arms, Sasuke nodded again, though a little disgruntled now.

"Ah! Of course, Sasuke-kun is still the best! You'll definitely figure out how to overcome that, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura added quickly, smiling nervously.

"I don't get it," Naruto muttered. "What's a Byakugan anyway?"

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Sarutobi stifled a sigh and reached up to massage the bridge of his nose. 'Naruto certainly inherited his parents' stubbornness,' he thought ruefully. 'I always admired their determination, but why did their son have to receive it all? If he had just listened to me, things wouldn't have become so difficult.'

Although Sarutobi had tried to delicately broach the subject of the Senju clan archives, Naruto had, either by design or simple-mindedness, completely failed to see the problem. He had stubbornly insisted that there was nothing wrong with either him or his teammates going through secret and sensitive documents gathered by Konoha's greatest, founding clan.

Tsunade hadn't helped much either, writing back simply that she didn't care at all. The only concession she made was a written, signed and stamped permission slip for Naruto to do as he pleased with the Senju compound and property.

Maybe this was her way of getting back at Sarutobi for not letting her sell the place.

The Elders – Sarutobi's old teammates – and Danzou certainly didn't appreciate this situation at all. And they made their position abundantly clear by calling a meeting with him.

"Now, Hokage-sama," Koharu began, "we certainly don't dispute Tsunade-hime's right to do as she wishes with her inheritance, but we are… concerned about the boy's well-being. The Senju archives contain many secrets. He is alone and may not realize what he is attempting. He may seriously injure himself – or others – with one of their secret techniques."

Sarutobi nodded with a great show of thoughtfulness. 'How nice of them to put it like that,' he thought with a hint of sarcasm. 'But the First and the Second moved all the more dangerous techniques to the Hokage's library instead and sealed them away… All Naruto has found, and will find, are personal and clan records.'

What they didn't want to just come out and say was that the Senju clan had kept extensive records of the entire village's dirty laundry. Who slept with who, who killed who, who had how many illegitimate children. Who owed whom money.

Who betrayed who, and how often.

Worse than even just Naruto digging around in the clan records – he probably wouldn't bother reading more than necessary to realize they weren't jutsu scrolls – was Sasuke helping. Who knew what the Senju had privately written about the Uchiha?

"I'll be sure to impress on Naruto the importance of caution. If I offer to help him with any new jutsu he wants to learn, he'll come to me before attempting anything," Sarutobi offered calmly, purposefully missing the Elders' real intention.

Until they grew bold enough to dispute Tsunade's right to give Naruto his free reign, they would have to be satisfied with that.

'Still, this entire issue is turning out to be a very nasty can of worms,' Sarutobi thought with a mental sigh.

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Hiashi regarded his daughter emotionlessly. "This is your chance to be of use to the clan," he said quietly. "Get close to the… boy… if necessary and access the Senju clan archives. Legendary secrets are stored there, which will help the Hyuuga clan prosper and claim dominance."

"Yes, father," Hinata whispered, keeping her head bowed, her eyes never rising from the floor.

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A/N: Dum. Dum. Dum. Hahaha… Suffer. (You can tell I'm not putting much effort into this, right?)

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	4. Chapter 4

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Naruto: Impressionable Age

Part: IV

Summary: Tsunade took Naruto as her ward. Now back in Konoha, Naruto has dragged his team along with him to clean out the Senju clan archives - not realizing what a hornets' nest he's getting into.

A/N: So, yeah. This chapter has Hinata, who is more doormat than ever.

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Hinata was a failure.

This was a fact of life. Hinata knew it, the Hyuuga clan knew it. Everyone knew it. There was absolutely nothing she excelled at; there was almost nothing she was competent in. So when her father gave her an order that she was _uniquely suited for_, Hinata felt an odd sort of flutter in her chest.

She felt… driven for the first time in years and years.

Competent or skilled she was not, but Hinata was well-trained as a shinobi, so she went about her task with an orderly efficiency.

'Uzumaki Naruto, age 12, date of birth October 10th,' she recited to herself. 'Orphan, no known relatives. Taken out of Konohagakure at age six by Tsunade of the Senju clan, possibly under the influence of the Sandaime.' She had been told some of that by clan members, some she'd found in census records. Mentally, she added, 'He's the same age as I am, but he left before we started Academy.'

There were, of course, some very serious gaps in this information. 'Why would Lord Hokage be interested in the fate of one orphan of no particular importance? Why would he need to involve one of his students, especially Tsunade-hime, who is notorious for her dislike of Konohagakure? Why do the older generation act with such disdain toward Uzumaki Naruto?'

But Hinata had been unable to find those answers. Instead, she turned her attention ahead. 'Returning just in time to take the graduation exam with his age group, Uzumaki Naruto fails the Bunshin no Jutsu portion. Due to the Hokage's intervention, he is allowed to graduate as a genin, but his total score becomes lowest. He is put on Team Seven, with Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, under Hatake Kakashi.'

That information she had found out from school records and from listening in on her former classmates.

'The team has average performance in D-rank missions and attempts a C-rank. However, the mission is mislabeled due to the client's deception. It involves a high-level foreign missing-nin, but Team Seven returns successfully.'

No one thought it odd that shy little Hinata would file her team's reports, and no one noticed her poking around.

'Some time after being put on Team Seven, Naruto invites his teammates to help him sort through the Senju archives. He has permission from Tsunade-hime, the last active member of the clan.'

And there was the crux of the problem. Hinata needed to access those archives as well, but she wasn't on his team. So she would need to become like a teammate.

From observing him for several days, Hinata judged that Naruto was a very open, friendly person. Probably, anyone who showed him kindness and didn't act in a completely repulsive manner would have a good chance to become his friend.

Too bad Hinata hadn't even worked up the confidence to approach him yet.

That was bad; but, as always, things got worse for Hinata.

She got caught.

It wasn't Naruto who noticed her – even Hinata had figured out that he had a rather oblivious streak in him. Surprisingly, it wasn't rookie of the year Uchiha Sasuke either. No, the one who noticed was Haruno Sakura.

"I didn't think you liked Sasuke-kun too," Sakura noted, cornering Hinata one day after leaving the Senju clan compound early – a rather obvious feint, Hinata realized now. "You never seemed interested in Academy."

"S-Sasuke-san?" Hinata stammered. "N-no… that's not…" She blushed furiously and looked down in mortification. This was actually in her favor, an easy alibi; every girl in the village had a crush on Sasuke, there was nothing odd about Hinata being the same.

Sakura blinked in surprise. "Really? It's okay to admit it," Sakura insisted. "I understand completely."

Something in Sakura's tone made Hinata slouch even further. Sakura was notorious for being competitive about her 'love' but it was obvious she saw Hinata as absolutely no threat.

But the interrogation was interrupted as a cheerful voice drifted out of the Senju compound, and a moment later Sasuke and Naruto stepped out onto the street.

"… so annoying," Naruto was saying as he walked next to Sasuke, trailing off as his teammate stopped suddenly. Following Sasuke's gaze, he noticed the two girls and waved cheerfully.

Hinata blushed even darker in mortification. Now what was she supposed to do?

Glancing between her and Naruto, Sakura's expression turned calculating and scheming. "Hey, Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" she called out brightly. "Naruto, this is a classmate of ours from the Academy, Hyuuga Hinata. Hinata, this is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hi, Hinata-chan!" Naruto beamed. 'Wow, she looks so nice and quiet,' he thought, his inner self sighing in happiness. 'I just hope she's not like Sakura – nice on the outside, crazy-violent on the inside…'

Hearing the casual endearment, Hinata drew a sharp breath. Sakura's inner self smiled predatorily. 'Oh, yeah, she's got it bad! If I set her up with Naruto, I'll have more time with Sasuke-kun!' …. Or so went her plan.

(Of course, she was completely misinterpreting the source of Hinata's embarrassment and the reason for her 'surveillance'.)

"Hinata is from a really important clan, and as heiress, she knows a lot about old documents and how to organize them," Sakura improvised quickly. "So I thought she could help us a lot."

Naruto only tilted his head to one side for a moment before nodding enthusiastically. "Sure! I need all the help I can get!" Naruto declared cheerfully. "I mean, you guys are helping a lot, of course, but, eh… Sasuke just sits around and reads these boring history scrolls."

He made a face while Sakura glared angrily. Ignoring them both, Sasuke gave Hinata a quick appraising look before dismissing her from his mind and wordlessly walking away.

'So, he's also interested in the archive?' Hinata thought. 'And he didn't need anyone to tell him…'

Seeing her crush depart, Sakura said quickly, "Anyway, Hinata'll help you, so explain everything to her. See you tomorrow!" With a short wave, she hurried after Sasuke, leaving Naruto and Hinata alone.

For an instance, Naruto wavered, but unlike Hinata, he made up for a lack of social experience with sheer bloody-minded determination. "Thanks a lot for agreeing to help, Hinata-chan!" he declared boldly, gesturing toward the house. "It's been really slow going, even with the three of us, and I don't know anyone else I could ask."

'This is your chance,' Hinata thought to herself. 'Even if you didn't plan for this, everything is going your way for once.'

"No, I'm glad to help," Hinata said quietly, not meeting his eyes as they moved inside. "It… it m-must be hard for you t-to come to Konohagakure without knowing anyone."

Hinata just barely caught Naruto's tiny falter, and then he was smiling brightly again. "It's no big deal!" he insisted. "It's not like I knew anybody anywhere else we went. I mean, I knew Tsunade-baa-chan and Shizune-nee-chan, but they weren't really around much anyway. I'm actually really glad to be living here!"

He was naturally a very casual person, Hinata noted.

"Well, anyway, it's really simple," Naruto said quickly, gesturing at the mess in the living room. "We've got an administration crate, a jutsu crate, a personal records crate – that's for stuff like private letters and journals – and a misc. crate." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Not too good, huh?"

Overwhelmed by the incredible opportunity, Hinata could only shake her head faintly. "I-I'll filing these, o-okay?" she offered faintly.

Naruto smiled. "Sure! I'll show you the library."

"G-great," Hinata managed. 'I-if he leaves me alone with these, it'll be more than I could have ever hoped for…'

But Naruto didn't leave her alone. Instead, he dragged out a bucket and a rag to begin actually cleaning up the grime in the archive room. Holding up a seal, he concentrated for a moment, and a Mizu Bunshin rose out of the bucket.

Noticing Hinata's stare, Naruto shrugged and grinned. "I decided to practice more Suiton," he explained. "It's what the Senju clan specializes in, with some Doton, 'cause I guess most of them had that affinity even without the First's Mokuton. But I'm not any good at it. My affinity's totally different – wind, I think."

"I-I see," Hinata nodded, feeling a tinge of sympathy.

Naruto laughed, though to her it sounded a little hollow. "Baa-chan was really unhappy about that – all she ended up being able to teach me was taijutsu. Her medic stuff is totally no good for me, and the only non-medic stuff she's got is the Doton and Suiton stuff her clan made her learn as a genin, so… Yeah."

He shrugged casually, his back to Hinata as he began to wipe an empty shelf. Hinata's hands clenched around a scroll as she thought, 'He's like me. Even though Tsunade-sama took him in, he's a failure at the skills of her clan…'

"Anyway! I've decided that it doesn't matter if I've got no talent at it! I'm going to learn Baa-chan's Suiton stuff! I'll train three times as hard!" Naruto declared, his voice strong now.

"Will that w-work?" Hinata wondered aloud unintentionally.

Naruto paused and shrugged. "Well, I dunno. Maybe I'll never get really good at it, like the Second. But I think I can. I'll do my best no matter what! …And I've got a better chance there than at Doton or medical jutsu. I guess there are just some totally hopeless causes," he said, muttering the last part under his breath.

For a while, they worked in silence, until Naruto asked, "Hey, Hinata-chan, your clan's the one with the white-eye dojutsu, right?"

Hinata didn't answer right away, an ingrained reflex to hide clan secrets warring with a quiet but growing sense of guilt for exploiting someone so genuinely nice. 'If I just tell him common knowledge, it won't matter,' she reasoned. 'If it's just simple things, it'll be the same as if he asked Sakura-san or Sasuke-san.'

"Y-yes," Hinata admitted quietly. "We Hyuuga have the Byakugan…"

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Eh… well, next chapter is when Sasuke actually, you know, finds out stuff. It'll be a mess. Look forward to it~

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	5. Chapter 5

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Naruto: Impressionable Age

Part: V

Summary: Tsunade took Naruto as her ward. Now back in Konoha, Naruto has dragged Sasuke, Sakura and a scheming Hinata along with him to clean out the Senju clan archives - not realizing what a hornets' nest he's getting into.

A/N: AKA, the chapter where something _actually happens_ *gasp!* No, wait, it doesn't really…

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For a short, blissful while, things went on simply. They finished the basic sorting and Hinata diligently began to actually organize and file the many, many scrolls. Sakura and Naruto both initially tried to help, but Hinata waved them off. They didn't know what they were doing, she excused, but really she just wanted the opportunity to go through the scrolls undisturbed.

With news of her initial success, Father had given her an accepting nod and explained the general outlines of what to look for. Now, it was a matter of time and patience.

Driven out of work by Hinata, Team Seven instead settled down to read the records they found most interesting for themselves. Sakura took scrolls about the medical and precision skills that members of the clan had practiced. Naruto took the Suiton jutsus. And Sasuke…

Sasuke, Hinata found out surreptitiously, was reading through the private records of the Second.

(Father had been thoughtful when she relayed that information.)

It was a calm day in the second half of June when Sasuke abruptly dropped the scroll he had been reading and stalked out of the library room. Blinking in surprise, Hinata stared after him while Sakura's brow furrowed in concern.

"I-is something wrong?" Hinata wondered.

Sakura bit her lip. "He was acting strange for a while now… he kept going back and forth in the scroll and rereading parts of it…. Sasuke-kun…"

The two girls glanced between the scroll on the floor and the doorway. 'I want to go after him,' Sakura thought unhappily, 'but I don't think he'd appreciate it. When he gets like that, he always chases me away…'

Instead, hesitantly, she reached for the scroll and spread it out across a reading table. With Hinata looking over her shoulder, Sakura tried to figure out what had made Sasuke so upset. The old characters for "Uchiha" caught her attention right away.

_'…Uchiha Madara… evolved his bloodline's dojutsu to a new level… calls it Mangekyo Sharingan… drenched in blood – rumored to require the death of a close friend…' _

_'Madara's eyes had been failing – the price of Mangekyo? – but suddenly, he appeared with a Sharingan evolved beyond even Mangekyo. He had taken his own brother's eyes! Izuna has been killed in battle. We formed a treaty, but Madara continues to…'_

Sakura put down the scroll sharply, her hands clenched around it. Slowly, she and Hinata exchanged horrified looks.

They both jumped as a voice came from behind them.

"What's with Sasuke?" Naruto asked, not noticing their agitation as he walked into the library room. "He just ran out! …He looked like he was going to be sick." Shaking his head, Naruto added quickly, "It wasn't me, I swear!"

Sakura's hand was suddenly on Hinata's, clenching almost painfully. "It's probably nothing," she assured Naruto in a falsely casual voice. "Let's wait until tomorrow. If he's still weird, we'll talk to him then."

Although he looked uncertain, Naruto nodded.

"Hey, Naruto," Sakura began after a moment, "I've been wondering… is it really okay to just have all these documents lying around? I mean, they could get stolen or something."

Blinking surprise at the change of topic, Naruto shrugged. "It'll be okay. Baa-chan explained to me about the seals on the mansion – they're supposed to be super strong."

Sakura blinked in surprise while Hinata nodded to herself – she had noticed some odd chakra patterns around the house when she had been first observing it. "But we all just walk in and out!" Sakura protested.

"Yeah, but that's because I set the wards to let you in," Naruto explained easily. "You can't normally take anything out either. I had to do all this weird stuff to let Sasuke borrow a couple scrolls."

All of them were just a little too distracted to get anything done, and the two girls soon excused themselves. Outside the gates of the compound, as they were about to part ways, Sakura stopped Hinata. "Look, that stuff about the Uchiha clan – it's all just old nonsense. It's got nothing to do with us, or with Sasuke! So, please, don't mention it to anyone. He doesn't need any more grief."

Sakura genuinely cared for Sasuke, Hinata realized sadly. But she couldn't promise Sakura what she wanted. All she could do was give a false, hollow smile and duck her head.

Hurrying back home to tell her father everything, Hinata felt her heart twist in shame.

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Despite what she told Naruto, Sakura couldn't bring herself to just leave Sasuke alone when he was obviously so distressed. Despite being on the same team and studying him for years, Sakura wasn't a close friend to Sasuke – or, she admitted to herself, even someone he cared about much.

But she cared about him.

Sasuke was easy to find; there was one particular small peer he visited when he wanted to think. He was there now too, staring out over the water in the gathering dark.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called out quietly. Receiving no reply, she came closer, stopping just behind him. "Are you… going to be alright?"

Still, there was no response.

Sakura bit her lip. "I… I'm sorry but I looked at the scroll you were reading… It's got nothing to do with you!" she rushed on quickly. "That stuff that happened a long time ago, it's got nothing to do with you, Sasuke-kun, no matter what your ancestor or whoever did! You…"

"You're wrong," Sasuke cut her off, his voice quiet and inflectionless. "It has everything to do with me."

Sakura shook her head in denial. "No, that's not true. Killing your closest friend or whatever just to gain a crazy power – that's not like Sasuke-kun at all! You risked your life to save Naruto! You're not like that! And those other things… about taking a brother's eyes… Well, it's different for you. You're not doing it for power…"

"Madara was the older brother," Sasuke pointed out almost absently.

Wringing her hands, Sakura tried to understand what she was missing in this conversation. It was almost like they were on different pages entirely. "Sasuke-kun… Naruto and I are worried about you," was all she could think to say.

Finally, finally, Sasuke turned to look at her. His dark eyes were frighteningly empty, but Sakura forged on.

"I told Naruto to wait until tomorrow, since he doesn't know about… that. But he's really worried. I'm worried too. You're our teammate and our friend, Sasuke-kun." She hoped she wasn't overstepping some bounds here, but this was a desperate situation. Sakura felt as if she was about to lose him, and not to something as simple as Ino. "If there's anything we can do, please tell us! We'll help you, no matter what!"

For a long moment, Sasuke studied her before closing his eyes and smiling faintly. "Friends, huh?" he said slowly. Turning away, he added, "Don't worry. I'll be fine tomorrow."

Sakura wasn't sure she believed him, but in the end, all she could do was nod and walk away.

'A friend, nii-san?' Sasuke thought, looking up at the night sky. 'That's right, you wanted me to have a friend – so that I could kill him and gain the same eyes as you. You said it was to test your potential, but all you really wanted was a way to keep your sight.'

It was bitter.

He almost wanted to believe that what he had read was a lie. But by whom? And why? Not Naruto, certainly. That idiot couldn't have made something so intricate. No matter how much Sasuke studied Nidaime's records, they all seemed genuine. They _made sense_.

'If you really wanted to test you potential, nii-san, there were so many strong shinobi out there. So many strong Uchiha too. So why choose your pathetic little brother? All that talk about siblings and overcoming each other – this is what it really meant.'

'I won't accept it any longer, nii-san. I won't be your pawn.'

-

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The next day, Sasuke seemed almost alright, if too pale and with deep bags under his eyes. Although worried, Sakura seemed almost relieved to see him at their bridge, while Naruto looked confused.

After a lack-luster mission, it was Naruto's turn to corner him.

"Are you really okay?" the blond demanded.

Sasuke glared. "I'm fine, idiot," he said, though it lacked some of its usual fire.

"You look like Tsunade-baa-chan after a night of gambling and drinking," Naruto pointed out unhappily. "Are you sick? You should see a medic then. I could mix you up some sleeping pills too." Suddenly, rare spark of wisdom flashed through his eyes. "Or it this about something in the archives?"

_"He's really worried,"_ Sakura's phantom voice echoed in his mind.

Sasuke sighed. "I just found out something that everyone hid from me," he admitted.

"Oh," Naruto blinked, and nodded. "I understand. I found out something like that too, after I started traveling with Baa-chan and Shizune-nee." He scratched his head thoughtfully. "I dunno. I mean, just remember that you're still the same as before. Nothing's really changed – you just know more. So you can think things through better."

For a moment, Sasuke stared at Naruto in surprise. 'Nothing's changed?' he wondered, but it was true. 'Nothing's changed. My clan is still dead, after all. Itachi still killed them. I'm still going to avenge them.'

But he couldn't help noticing how one of those statements didn't quite match the others.

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A/N: I think I might have betrayed some expectations there (not that many people are actually reading this). The note Senju left wasn't about oppressing the Uchiha, it was more like, "Dude, that Madara is totally nuts, carving his own brother's eyes out and stuff. That's not cool at all, man. No way we're making him leader. Guess we'll have to go with Mr. Jolly Green Giant."

Next time: Ah, chuunin exams. The most often rehashed arc of Naruto. Bwahaha….

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	6. Chapter 6

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Naruto: Impressionable Age

Part: VI

Summary: Tsunade took Naruto as her ward. After six years on the road, he returns to Konoha. For better or for worse.

A/N: …. sorry, really. But I just realized how hard it is to show that Naruto is socially inept. Watch for his habit of saying the wrong thing, every time.

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"I'm going to check on Sasuke-kun," Sakura said quietly, laying her hand on Naruto's shoulder. He turned toward her slowly, watching the other examinees file out of the chamber.

"I don't think they'll let you see him," he pointed out. Hesitating for a moment, he added, "Do you know what's wrong with him? He was acting off in the forest and in his match too. Then Kakashi-sensei dragged him off like that…"

'I wish the old lady was here,' Naruto thought suddenly, without meaning to. For a strange, disconnected moment, his eyes watered as the last three days seemed to come crashing down on him. Something was wrong with Sasuke, he knew, even as Sakura looked away without answering, her hand drawing back. Something was wrong with Naruto too, with the seal.

His arm came across his stomach, which roiled a little. Not being able to even mold chakra properly, he had resorted to just throwing a lot of poison in the air in his match with Kiba. Between Naruto's incredible healing and Kiba's enhanced senses, Naruto had been the last one standing, if just barely, but the some effects seemed to linger a little.

"I'm going to try anyway," Sakura said, drawing him out of his thoughts. It took Naruto a moment to realize she was talking about seeing Sasuke.

He shrugged almost listlessly. "If you want." To be honest, he was just a bit hurt by all the secrecy, and he was so _tired_.

Watching Sakura leave, it took Naruto a moment to notice someone waiting behind him. 'I've gotta pull myself together,' he thought sternly. 'I'm in the chunin exam finals. I need to plan. I need to train. I can do this. I can do this!'

Nodding firmly to himself, he turned and faced Hinata, who seemed to shrink a little at the attention.

"N-Naruto-kun," she stuttered out, "are you okay? W-with the poison… I wanted to give you t-this." She held out a small jar, which Naruto picked up with some interest, though his eyes quickly slid back to the girl. "I-it's a homemade remedy. I g-gave some to Kiba-kun too…."

"Thanks!" Naruto said with only partly forced cheer. Turning it over in his hand, he was silent for a moment. "Hinata… Why did you just concede your match like that?" he finally asked.

Hinata flinched and ducked her head even further. "Neji-nii-san is far my superior," she whispered. "He is a genius and the most talented Hyuuga in generations. L-like he said, t-there is no doubt of the outcome…"

"There's always doubt. There's always a chance," Naruto insisted, shaking his head. "Even if it's just luck, there's always a chance. Just giving up like that…" Seeing Hinata shudder a little, Naruto quickly tried to divert. "W-well, anyway, he's that great, huh? Doesn't sound too good for me, since I'm facing him in the third round! Haha!"

Hinata glanced quickly up at Naruto through her bangs before looking away again. "You're not like me. If it's Naruto-kun, you might… you can…"

Naruto flushed a little. "Thanks, Hinata-chan! But I guess I'll have to be really serious about this. Fuzzy Eyebrow said that Neji was his rival, the person he needed to beat. And Fuzzy Eyebrows is crazy strong…"

He trailed off, remembering just what had happened to Lee. The new generation's Green Beast had shown a spectacular dance, but he had been crushed by Gaara. 'And Sasuke's facing him?' Naruto thought, swallowing heavily. He shook his head against the sudden fear. 'No! It's Sasuke! He's super-strong himself, and stubborn too. He'll win! He promised to face me! I just need to keep my end.'

Fidgeting, Hinata whispered something. A deep breath, and she tried again. "If… y-you need anything… I'll do my best t-to help," Hinata barely managed to get out. 'It's the only way I can make amends for deceiving you, if only a little,' she thought.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan," Naruto said warmly, his smile like the sun. Hinata blushed deeply.

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As predicted, neither Naruto nor Sakura were able to meet Sasuke. Kakashi dropped in on them as they filed out of the Forest of Death with the rest of the genin, "smiling" cheerfully, one hand up in a salute.

"Yo!" he greeted as his students turned to look at him, somewhat lethargically. "Sasuke'll be fine, but we will be taking off to train as soon as he wakes up, so you probably won't see him until the third round. He will need all the training he can get to face Gaara," Kakashi explained. Pausing, he added, "Good job on both your matches, especially Naruto."

At the praise, Naruto perked up a little, almost preening.

"Now, I realize you will need training too, so I'm going to arrange a special instructor for you…" Kakashi began, but Naruto cut him off, shaking his head sharply.

"I don't think that's a good idea, sensei," he said. "I've been thinking about it. Neji's best at close range hand-to-hand, in that special Hyuuga style, right? Well, I'm going to beat him at his own game. But the taijutsu style I use is the one Tsunade-baa-chan taught me, the Senju one, and there's not really anyone in Konoha who uses that, I think. If I try learning from another teacher, it'll just be a mess!"

Naruto waved his hand dismissively, and Kakashi stared just a little. "You know… against a close-range fighter, you should try using long-range ninjutsu or genjutsu instead," Kakashi pointed out.

"I'm going to beat him at his own game," Naruto insisted. 'For Fuzzy Eyebrows and Hinata-chan too.' "Besides, taijutsu is my best. I'm completely worthless at genjutsu and my ninjutsu's… eh," he shrugged. "So, you don't need to worry about finding me another teacher. I'll use some of the Senju scrolls and practice. Maybe I'll spar with Hinata-chan to get a feel for the Hyuuga thing. I'll be just fine, sensei!"

Hesitating for only a moment, Kakashi "smiled." "Well, that's good then. Do your best," he said in parting before disappearing.

Absently, Naruto waved, even though the jounin was long gone. To be honest, he felt just a bit abandoned. He started in surprise as Sakura laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto… Do you mind if I… study a bit at your place too?" she asked. Her face contorted as he stared in surprise. "I'm the only one who didn't win my match. I'm the only one who hasn't really grown at all since we graduated. I want to become strong. I don't want to be left behind!"

Naruto smiled warmly. "Sure thing, Sakura-chan." Placing a hand on her chest, Sakura felt her heart flutter strangely, just for a moment.

-

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Sniffing a flower carefully, Naruto declared, "We've got some of these at the mansion. Why couldn't we just pick some of those, Sakura-chan?"

"Because," Sakura said slowly and patiently, "you're supposed to buy a real bouquet when you go to visit someone in the hospital."

Peering out from behind the counter, Ino snorted. "Those are hydrangeas anyway. You probably want something else for a get well gift." Both girls watched as Naruto paused for a moment before nodding determinedly and scrambling away deeper into the flower shop. Turning back to her once-and-maybe-again friend, Ino said quietly, "What's going on with him, Sakura?"

"What do you mean?"

Ino huffed. "I mean… When I told my parents I met him and that he's in the final round, they… I don't even know how to explain it. But they had this really weird reaction. Iruka-sensei said he'd been trained out of the village for years, I don't remember ever seeing him as a kid, so it can't be anything he's done, right? And I don't know anyone else named Uzumaki, so it's probably not his relatives either…"

Opening her mouth to tell Ino she was imagining things, Sakura paused. 'Actually, many adults have weird reactions around Naruto. It's like they realize something about him and then…' She frowned. 'Then they treat him like a leper or a criminal.'

"That doesn't make any sense," she said aloud, without meaning to. At Ino's questioning look, Sakura shook her head. "Naruto might be dumb, but he's friendly and nice. His skills as a ninja are all over the place, but there's nothing really notable either. He's got no bloodline, as far as I can see. In fact, the only thing that really stands out is… well, that he was raised by Tsunade of the Sannin."

Ino stared in surprise, shooting a quick glance at Naruto, who was regarding a bunch of sunflowers with a look of deep, almost comical concentration. "_The_ Tsunade? The greatest medic in history? Granddaughter of the First? The one all kunoichi look up to?"

"Well, it obviously didn't help him that much," Sakura commented dryly. "His chakra control is so terrible, I guess even Tsunade-sama couldn't teach him anything – except taijutsu and poisons anyway."

Falling silent for a few moment, Ino finally said, "You're right. It doesn't make any sense. Even if he's a moron – and, really, he's in the finals, so he can't be all bad – being associated with Tsunade-sama should make him popular… not the opposite."

Both girls jumped a little as Naruto suddenly ran up to the counter, holding a pair of daffodils. "How about these?" he asked cheerfully. "They're really pretty and they smell nice! I bet they'll really cheer up Fuzzy Eyebrows!"

"Well, they mean 'rebirth, new beginning,'" Ino said. "I guess that can work." He seemed to have his heart set on them anyway.

"This place is so great, Sakura-chan!" Naruto chirped as Ino prepared and rang up the flowers. "I really like all the flowers. I've been taking care of the gardens at home – it's lots of fun. I can practice my water techniques to water them too!"

Handing him the two daffodils, Ino put on her best manipulative smile. "Home, huh? I heard you're staying at the Senju compound. That place's been empty for decades. How did that work out?"

"Oh yeah, it was pretty over grown when I moved in," Naruto agreed blithely. "I still haven't cleaned out all of it, but it's gotten pretty nice. It's really great to have a home, you know, instead of always living in hotels and stuff…"

Trailing off, Naruto shuddered a little. He'd seem many hotels on the road with Tsunade, but that was only when they had the money for a room, even just one. More often, they ended up sleeping in… other places…

"I'm so glad to be home," he repeated almost mechanically.

"Have you stayed at the Senju mansion before?" Ino nudged.

"Nah," Naruto replied, shaking away the (traumatizing) memories. "When Granny Tsunade took me in, we just left Konoha right away and didn't come back for six years."

Abandoning subtlety, Ino asked, "And how did that happen? Are you related to Tsunade-sama?"

Naruto laughed, a little hollowly. "No way! I'm an orphan. I don't have any family – well, I didn't. Old man Hokage asked her to look after me."

'But why did he ask?' Ino and Sakura thought in tandem. Neither thought Naruto would be able to answer; he probably didn't know himself.

"Oh," Ino drew out, cupping her chin in her palm and studying him closely. "You're pretty interesting after all."

Naruto laughed, a warm, buoyant sound. "Thanks," he said, and Ino found herself looking away coquettishly.

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The door of a certain hospital room banged open suddenly, and Naruto charged in, grinning brightly. "Fuzzy Eyebrow! We're here to visit!" He froze, finally noticing the scene inside the room. "Huh? What are you guys doing?" he wondered, tilting his head to the side and staring at Lee and Tenten, both on the bed, entangled with each other.

"It's not what it looks like!" Tenten protested hotly. "I'm just trying to stop this idiot from running off to train even though he's injured!"

"Wow, you're already going back to training, Fuzzy Eyebrows? That's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed, honestly impressed with Lee's dedication.

"It's not cool!" Tenten and Sakura yelled in tandem.

Looking momentarily put off, Naruto shrugged. "Well, uh, Sakura-chan and I got you some get-well flowers!" he said instead, holding out the two daffodils. The way he was holding them made it all too clear he had no idea what anyone was supposed to do with them.

Sakura sighed. "Here, I'll put them in a vase," she muttered.

"Sakura-san! Naruto-kun! I am so deeply touched by your Youthful well-wishes!" Lee exclaimed, tears streaming heavily from his eyes. Tenten clapped a hand to her forehead. "I assure you, the Flames of my Youth will not be so easily extinguished! I will-!"

He was cut off as Tenten nailed him in the stomach. "You will not," she ground out, "do anything except lay here quietly, recovering." She turned a stern look on Naruto. "And if you're here looking for some tips against Neji, you're barking up the wrong tree. No matter what, we're teammates and we stick together."

"Huh? No, no, it's not like that!" Naruto exclaimed, waving his arms. "Hinata-chan's already helping me with that!"

The statement did little to pacify Tenten, who huffed and looked away pointedly. Sakura sighed a little.

"I was actually wondering if Fuzzy Eyebrows wanted to spar, later, of course!" Naruto explained. "I'm going to be working on my taijutsu, but Sasuke's taken off and I don't really know anyone else to practice on."

Lee's usually glowing face darkened. "I appreciate your sentiment, Naruto-kun, but I'm afraid… that's not going to be possible in the near future," he said quietly, as if each word cost him a great deal.

"What do you mean? Are you busy with something?" Naruto asked, clueless.

Shaking her head sharply, Tenten grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the room. "Are you some kind of idiot?" she demanded in the hallway, pulling close, face to face. "Lee's hurting enough as it is! Don't add salt to the wound too!"

"But I really don't understand," Naruto protested, a little weakly, wilting under her glare.

"You…" Tenten trailed off and sighed angrily. "Naruto, Lee was hurt very badly, because of both Lotus and Gaara's attack. Right now… they're not even sure he'll ever be able to fight again."

"What?" Naruto whispered. 'What? But…' Not being able to get better? That… that's wasn't something Naruto understood. He had always healed, overnight at most. And Tsunade had always healed everyone else. There were in wounds that couldn't be cured in their world…

Naruto swallowed heavily, feeling nauseous. "N-no way," he insisted. "There's still a chance! He'll be alright! Konoha has the best medics in the world!"

For a moment, Tenten studied him with a strange expression. "That's true," she agreed finally. "If there's any chance, it's here. After all, Tsunade-sama herself designed many of the techniques used here. And in the meantime, it's up to us to keep Lee's spirits up."

"I don't think Fuzzy Eyebrows needs a lot of help there," Naruto said, giving her a warm smile. "But I'll be looking forward to that match."

In the room next to them, someone yelled, loudly, about Youth. Someone else yelled even louder, followed by a heavy 'thunk'.

Tenten couldn't help but giggle, hiding behind on hand.

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A/N: Mm, yeah. Next chapter is Tsunade and maybe Jiraiya, but probably just Tsunade. Now I really need to get to work on New Wind Nation next chapter…

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	7. Chapter 7

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Naruto: Impressionable Age

Part: VII

Summary: Tsunade took Naruto as her ward. After six years on the road, he returns to Konoha. For better or for worse.

A/N: Ffff. One review for last chapter? You guys suck

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When Tsunade found out that Naruto had entered the Chuunin Exams, the one _coherent_ thought in her mind was, 'Someone will suffer for this.' _Someone_ included many possibilities – Naruto (for being so stupid and reckless), Sarutobi (for letting a twelve year old newly minted genin enter), Hatake Kakashi (for entering a newly minted genin) and maybe even any moron foreigner who had dared so much as to look at Naruto funny.

Her own vehemence surprised Tsunade. She had expected the sudden drop in her stomach, the cold sweat, the absolute fear that this was it, Naruto had died, just like Nawaki and Dan. But she hadn't expected this deep, burning rage of protectiveness.

Although she and Shizune had rushed to Konohagakure at top speed, they didn't make it until after the end of the second round and the preliminaries for the third.

No one dared to stop her as she stormed into the Hokage tower. Sarutobi didn't even have the decency to look afraid as she burst into his office and slammed her hands on his table. Leaning in menacingly, Tsunade growled, "_Where is he?_"

Taking his pipe out of his mouth slowly, Sarutobi said simply, "Training."

'Training?' Tsunade sagged a little. Training meant Naruto was at least mostly okay. Training meant he was still alive and probably still had all his limbs and organs.

Probably. Having incredible healing had given Naruto a somewhat lax attitude toward injuries and his health in general.

"Where?" she barked. "And I swear to the Sage, if that brat Hatake let him out of the hospital before he was completely healed…"

Sarutobi lit his pipe, a sure sign that something was Not Right. "Ah well, Kakashi is not the one training Naruto right now," Sarutobi admitted slowly. "Naruto and his teammate Sasuke both moved on to the third round. Kakashi felt that Sasuke would benefit the most from some one-on-one training out of the village. They aren't due to return for the rest of the month."

"What," Tsunade said flatly, more statement than question. "And what about Naruto? That flaky brat just-!"

"Tsunade," Sarutobi cut her off, holding one had up. He sighed heavily and made a quick seal to ensure their privacy. "Orochimaru marked Sasuke with his Cursed Seal. Kakashi felt this would be the best way to let him adjust and gain some control, for Sasuke's sake and for Naruto as well."

Her throat suddenly felt dry. Tsunade swallowed heavily and swayed a little before collapsing in the visitor's chair in front of the Hokage. "Orochimaru?" she repeated, feeling a little lost. Then, as the implications sank in, strength suddenly rushed back into her limbs, and her voice. "Orochimaru was _here_? He was at the exam? He was near Naruto?!"

"He infiltrated the second exam," Sarutobi admitted quietly, his eyes shadowed. Tsunade wanted to say something – this just begged a comment – but she couldn't bring herself to lay more on her old teacher. He looked more worn than ever now. Orochimaru had always been his favorite, she remembered.

Sarutobi sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "It goes deeper than that as well. I've asked Jiraiya to return, and I've received reports that he is in the village, but I haven't seen him yet. When I track him down, I will explain the full situation to both of you." He paused. "If you will be staying, that is."

That gave Tsunade pause. Would she be staying? Or would she be leaving Naruto – stupid, stubborn, nosey, completely unprepared – to face Orochimaru? Oh, and the foreigners.

"Don't think you're off the hook," she declared. But for now, seeing Naruto and verifying that he was alright took priority.

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It was actually almost anticlimactic to find Naruto peacefully training in the Senju compound. No, it wasn't even just that. Tsunade's brow furrowed as she studied the scene. It was… nostalgic. Coming back to her childhood home to find it cleaned and restored to life, from the abandoned husk it had been when she'd left, with the boy that was not quite her brother going through the familiar family katas in the courtyard…

She couldn't put words to the feeling, but it tugged on her heartstrings. It was bittersweet, confused.

Naruto made a small mistake, but he continued on, with only a frown to show he had noticed it himself. 'He's always like that,' she thought absently. 'To him, just because something is a little flawed is no reason to abandon it altogether.'

"Looks like you need another round of Special Training, brat," Tsunade remarked as he finished, making Naruto flinch and stumble in surprise.

"S-Special Training?!" Naruto stammered, his expression horrified. "Nonono! I don't need that!" Abruptly, he paused, thinking of something that made his face take on a serious, unhappy expression. It also, incidentally, made Tsunade want to apply some of those lovely poisons Shizune had taught Naruto.

"Actually," he said slowly, "maybe that's just what I need."

That was… odd. No one, not Naruto, not Tsunade herself as a child, had volunteered for Special Training. "Are you feeling okay?" Tsunade asked, trying to keep her tone gruff and annoyed.

Naruto scowled. "I need to get stronger! A lot stronger! And I've only got a month." Together, they moved into the shade, settling on a stone bench Naruto had cleaned off and dragged out of the bushes a while back.

"I'm facing this super genius Hyuuga for my first round," Naruto explained. "He's a year older, and Hinata-chan says that he's the most talented in generations. Lee, who's really strong himself, said he'd never beaten Neji, even though they're on the same team and rivals. I can't afford to waste any time!"

Tsunade sighed a little. "You're going to try to face a Hyuuga in hand-to-hand? That's… not really smart, Naruto."

Snorting, Naruto crossed his arms. "Everyone keeps saying that! But taijutsu's my best. And I'm going to show them all I can do! I'll show that arrogant prick Neji, and I'll show Sasuke too! I have to beat Neji to face Sasuke in the next round. I can't afford to lose!"

As Tsunade opened her mouth to suggest using his head for once, Naruto shook his head sharply. "I'm not going to get fancy about this! I already won my preliminary match by poisoning my opponent! I don't want Sasuke or Kakashi-sensei, or even Hinata-chan or Lee to see me win like that again! I've got to prove I can fight, that I'm just as strong as they are."

Feeling a headache coming on, Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose and frowned. 'So it's some kind of macho pissing contest,' she thought. 'Or, well, I guess I can see what he's saying. Naruto knows to play it smart on missions, but he wants to prove he can fight. I felt like that too, when my teammates all told me that I can only heal people. And Naruto's no medic, really.' Surreptitiously, she shot him a somewhat guilty look. 'We really weren't the right people to train him. All we could give him were the basics, and we even got him into some bad habits.'

"Naruto, listen to me," Tsunade said with a sigh. "After this exam's over, make your teacher show you how to mold wind-nature chakra. He's bound to know at least one Wind Release technique too. You're a ninjutsu type, really. It's just that Senju water and earth techniques aren't for you."

"But he's not here now," Naruto pointed out, frowning.

"That's why I said, after the exam. For now, I'll give you that Special Training you were so eager for, so be prepared…"

Naruto cheered, only to cut himself off abruptly. Tsunade raised an eyebrow, thinking he had finally realized just what he had agreed to, but instead Naruto turned to her with pleading eyes. "We don't have time for that," he declared, reluctance clear in his voice. "Granny Tsunade, you need to help Lee!"

"What? Why?"

"In his preliminary match, Lee used this forbidden technique that made him go a lot faster, but it also damaged his body. And then his opponent hurt him really badly, so now Lee might never be able to be a shinobi again. You've got to help him," Naruto pleaded.

"Is he critical?" Tsunade asked, going over the information in her mind.

Naruto shook his head. "He _seemed_ okay when I saw him. I only know because his teammate told me."

"Then, shouldn't we focus on training you? I can… help him later," Tsunade finished, her voice wavering a little as she realized what she was agreeing to. Not only had she basically taken it for granted that she'd help Naruto's friend (well, she was a medic, after all), but she'd just agreed to remain in Konoha after the exam.

But Naruto shook his head again. "No, Lee's more important. I can train by myself. I found a bunch of scrolls, so…"

"Your priorities are just…" Tsunade sighed. She couldn't say he was wrong – putting your friend ahead was admirable, but it just wasn't _shinobi_. And what kind of genin actually passed up a chance for one-on-one training? 'Shizune and I left him alone too much,' Tsunade thought guiltily. "And speaking of that, you never said how you're feeling," she realized. "Are you injured anywhere?"

"Granny Tsunade!" Naruto whined. "You'll help Lee, right?"

"Yes, yes," Tsunade agreed. "Now quit stalling, or I'll think you _are_ injured and hiding it."

Naruto looked away. "Well, I… uh… it's not an injury, per se. But… Well, when we ran into this snake-freak in the Forest of Death, he did something weird, and now I can't mold chakra properly," he fessed up.

A moment later, Tsunade was pulling his shirt up and poking him in the stomach.

'What? What is this?' she thought frantically, seeing the five dark markings around the normal seal. 'It's interfering with the seal? Damn it, I don't know anything about this. I'll need Jiraiya after all.'

"Come on, brat," she said suddenly, standing up and pulling Naruto along. "We're going to go see the Hokage."

'Looks like you'll be getting your meeting earlier than expected, Sarutobi-sensei,' Tsunade thought. 'Even if I have to haul Jiraiya in myself.'

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A/N: So, there are some things to clear up.

The Senju are generally portrayed as all but extinct, with only Tsunade as the exception. So their records end at least two decades before the start of the series. So, nothing on the Uchiha Massacre or the Kyuubi's attack. There might be something about Madara being able to control the Kyuubi, but that's secondary.

Frankly, this story moves super slow, so it'll be a while before anything actually comes of Sasuke's little revelation.

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End file.
